


A Spoonful of Sugar

by thisisamadhouse



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Camelot, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 17:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13839468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisamadhouse/pseuds/thisisamadhouse
Summary: When the food in Camelot isn't as good as Regina's cooking. Dimples Queen & Hood Mills family. Set in Camelot, after 5x02.





	A Spoonful of Sugar

**Author's Note:**

> Another lovely prompt from [Laura](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lalakate)

She notices it as early as their second day in Camelot. Another feast, and Roland and Robin- miraculously so and she is still not sure if she can believe that he is really alive and well, no conditions, no strings attached, and she keeps looking at him every few moments just to be sure- are sitting by her side, and it feels like the infamous Missing Year all over again, except Henry is on her left, and it makes all the difference in her world. This time the looks thrown her way aren’t ones of fear or suspicion or distrust but of wonder and awe, she is the Saviour here and the notion is still so very strange to her.

Desserts are being served, and just as for the rest, there are too many to choose from, but she smiles as she watches Roland’s eyes lighting up at the sight of an apple pie. Both she and Robin chuckle when he eagerly takes the first bite with wide, avid eyes, and they go back to their own pastries. She turns back to him however when the boy seems slow to take a second morsel, and her eyebrows raise at the sight of the frown marring his little face as he chews slowly.

“Is something wrong, sweetheart?” She asks but Roland shrugs, still munching, still frowning. Once the first bite is finally swallowed, the little outlaw gives the plate a push, uninterested in more. It’s so out of character that Robin and Henry both stop eating to look at the boy. Regina has three ravenous boys, can never put up together enough food to fill their bottomless stomachs, at least on the very few occasions she has been able to have them all together sitting at one table, so when one of them refuses to eat, it is cause for concern. Now that she thinks about it, even Robin and Henry don’t appear to have gobbled down the various tasty dishes as they usually do.

“Roland, don’t you like the food here?” She asks, and the boy shrugs again and mumbles something they can’t hear. “Speak up, honey.”

“It doesn’t taste like yours. I like yours better,” he answers and she is about to say that she doesn’t see what the problem is, it may be a bit blander than what she likes but Storybrooke has given her access to all sorts of spices and condiment that the people from Camelot and the Enchanted Forest have never tried, but Henry and Robin both give approving nods and she looks at them quizzically.

“You’ve got to admit, love, that you can do much better than what their cook has to offer,” Robin declares, grinning, squeezing her shoulder.

“Yeah, Mom, even Granny has been sniffing at her plates suspiciously, and she’s been serving frozen lasagnas for years,” Henry adds, nodding towards the end of the table where the old woman is indeed getting a whiff of a piece of chocolate cake, and then looks at it as if it has personally offended her.

A thought strikes Regina as she looks at the werewolf, and she is forming a plan in her head while trying to stay focused on the conversation. “I think it has more to do with her distrustful nature than the food itself,” she says and receives three snorts in response.

When Roland starts to fall asleep at the table she sends the boys to bed and approaches Granny. She is surprised at how little convincing it takes, probably because the other woman is too stunned that Regina actually bothered to ask for permission to refuse her, but whatever her reasons are it works for Regina.

Early the next morning, she slips from Robin’s embrace -and isn’t it absolutely ridiculous that they were given separate chambers when there is no way in hell they will ever let anything keep them apart ever again, especially not this King they’re still not sure they can trust?-, has to spent several minutes loosening the hold of his arms around her to do so. She finds the way he scrunches his face absolutely adorable- though there is no way she will admit to it- when there is no one for him to hold anymore and he burrows deeper into the warm spot she has left behind.

She tiptoes to the next door and wakes Roland with soft caresses and whispered words until the boy blinks up at her, confused because the first rays of sunlight are barely out and he is an early riser but not that early, and he blinks until his eyelids are less heavy and he can focus on her face without it being blurry, and then he smiles at her.

“I had an idea and I think you’re going to like it my little knight,” she tells me, booping his nose making him giggle. “Get dressed, we’re going on an adventure.”

They walk down the corridors in silence although Roland has to keep an hand pressed to his mouth to stifle the occasional excited giggle that threatens to escape. Regina has thought about including Henry too but ultimately she decided to surprise her son and Robin.

This is for Roland, little Roland who has been tossed around between worlds for weeks, months now, who has been lied to and threatened, even if he doesn’t remember all of it, and who still smiles and laughs and can be amused by the smallest things, and she may be the most resilient but she has a serious contender in this dimpled wide-eyed child.

They are out of the castle and heading towards the dinner now and Roland is more and more amazed with each step they take. When they finally enter Granny’s, Regina leads him right to the kitchen.

“What do you say we show Camelot what real food tastes like?” She asks him, and his huge smile splits his face as he eagerly nods.

They set to work, Granny gave her free reign over her kitchen for the morning and Regina is taking full advantage of it. She congratulates herself for putting a preservation spell on the various ingredients in stock when they landed.

Apple pies, waffles, pancakes, chocolate cakes, anything Roland asks for, they make, and when Robin and Henry burst in mid-morning looking quite relieved to have finally found them, they are covered in flour and sugar, Roland has war paint made in chocolate smeared on his face, they are both smiling and laughing and there is enough food on the table to feed a small army.

They gather their little party, and even some of the castle’s inhabitants come by to see what the commotion is about, and all their hard work is devoured in a mere minutes, people calling out to each other to try this rather than that, and Roland is wolfing down his plate as if he had been starving for weeks.

Robin encircles her waist, squeezing her against him, kissing her cheek, whispering “Thank you for doing that for him,” in her ear, Henry grins at her widely while offering the girl from the ball, whose name he still hasn’t told her, half of his own chocolate chips pancake, and Granny is looking at her approvingly, even Grumpy asks if this will be a recurring occurrence.

It’s not much, she thinks, but for a few moments they forget about the darkness looming over them, they forget that they don’t know anything about this new, strange place or its people, they don’t know who to trust, they don’t know what the cost of finding out will be. For a few moments, her dysfunctional family is happy and she clings to those precious memories while she can.


End file.
